Bernard Grech stands by claim Police Commissioner ordered arrest of Jean Paul Sofia’s friend

Nationalist Party leader stands by his claim that orders to arrest a young person for hanging a banner calling for justice for Jean Paul Sofia came from the police depot

Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech is standing by his claim that the Police Commissioner ordered the arrest of a young person caught hanging a banner in Valletta calling for justice for Jean Paul Sofia.

Speaking at the Nationalist Party’s Workers’ Day protest in Pietà, Grech noted that the Commissioner has denied ordering the arrest of Jean Paul Sofia’s friend after hanging the banner in front of Parliament.

Indeed, the Commissioner issued a rare press statement denying the claim.

“So when you don’t speak out against a claim, does that mean it’s true? Is this what it all means?” Grech said.

But the PN leader called bluff on the Commissioner’s statement. “We know that the order for this young person’s arrest for hanging a banner came from the police depot.”

Grech also said that he was happy to see the banner still hung outside Parliament at the Labour Party’s workers’ day event.

Repeated PBS attacks

The Nationalist Party’s protest, organised under the slogan 'Nagħtu s-Saħħa lill-Ħaddiem' (Power to Workers) was held near St Luke’s Hospital in Pietà and right opposite PBS offices.

Grech said the choice of location on Monday was no accident. He said that they chose to set the protest in front of ‘a monument to fraud’, referring to St Luke’s, and ‘Labour’s most powerful propaganda machine’, a reference to PBS.

The crowd at the Nationalist Party's Workers' Day event
The crowd at the Nationalist Party's Workers' Day event

Grech criticised PBS repeatedly throughout the protest, speculating that it will not report on the Nationalist Party’s workers’ day events.

He said that PBS is the media station of the Labour Party and is being led by someone “close to Robert Abela”.

“This is a person with a particular brief, to make sure that the news in our country is written in a way that is almost fairy-tale.”

“This is why we have to continue meeting in the streets, in village squares. We must continue talking. We have a duty to be the voice of the people.”

Hospitals corruption

Turning to the hospitals privatisation deal, Grech said that the Labour government sold three public hospitals to foreign thieves, “opening the door wide open to them and showing them exactly how they can steal from us”.

He acknowledged a nearby banner that reads “Thank you Adrian Delia”. It was Delia who fronted proceedings against the government in court to declare the Vitals Global Healthcare privatisation deal fraudulent. He won the case last February after the judge presiding over the case anulled all agreements forming part of the deal.

Grech thanked Delia, but also said that people should thank the Nationalist Party for winning back the hospitals as well.

He said that ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat, together with former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi, knew that the Vitals investors were thieves.

 “No wonder they [Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi] opened trusts in New Zealand and companies in Panama. Anyone who dared open their mouth was called a traitor.”

Grech said it was Prime Minister Robert Abela who, as legal counsel to Cabinet at the time, gave his blessing so that the three hospitals can be resold to Steward Healthcare instead of being returned to government after Vitals exited the concession.

“They did everything to try and make people forget about this. And he did this with the complicity of PBS, which everyday tries to bury the Nationalist Party’s news and tries to paint a positive picture of everything.”

Grech scapegoats foreign workers for low wages

Grech touched on cost of living, noting that inflation is at its highest level seen in 42 years. “How can we not be angry? Cost of living is going up, and it’s continuing to go up, reaching 7%.”

He also hit out against the Labour Party’s tax refund cheques, after Abela announced that a new round of cheques will be issued next week.

While Maltese people deal with inflation, Grech said Abela continues to bring hundreds of foreign workers. “Whenever the Maltese worker tries to fight for a higher wage, they find a foreign worker ready to work the same job for practically nothing. This is unacceptable.”

“It’s unacceptable to lose our soul for greed and money. I want a just country. You want a just country.”

Grech said the government needs to embark on a new immigration policy where the skills of foreign workers, especially in new sectors, are transferred to local workers so that their conditions can increase.

“Our vision is the upskilling and reskilling of workers,” he said.

Labour ashamed of full EU membership, Grech says

Traditionally, May 1 has been an opportunity for the Nationalist Party to celebrate Malta’s accession into the EU, a process it had spearheaded.

Grech said that everyone is here to celebrate the worker, but that the party is also here to celebrate Malta’s accession to the EU. “Others want to make us forget about our joining the EU. It was the dream of the Nationalist Party, the dream of Eddie Fenech Adami,” he said as the crowd cheered.

Grech noted how the Labour Party did not make any mention of the EU anniversary during their workers’ day event.

“This is the Labour Party. Not only did they not want us to be full members, but they are ashamed of celebrating our full membership in the EU. That’s why we must celebrate.”